Best doorstopper books that are worth lugging around

Quality and quantity

In recent years the average size of a novel has shot up from 320 to 407 pages, with some of the most coveted literary prizes going to long novels. It seems our appetite for bingeing is showing no signs of slowing down, whether that be consuming three series of Breaking Bad on Netflix in one weekend, or 400 pages of Donna Tartt.

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But for anyone who isn’t quite ready to ditch the real thing, which doorstopper books are actually worth lugging around?

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

It hasn’t yet been released, but it’s worth putting Sittenfeld’s witty modern day re-telling of Pride and Prejudiceon your reading list. Tackling Jane Austen is no mean feat, but Sittenfeld does it perfectly in a tongue-in-cheek Cluelessstyle. Liz is a writer for a woman’s magazine, Jane a yoga teacher and Lydia and Kitty are addicted to CrossFit. Brilliant.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Winner of The Pulitzer prize in 2014, it followed 13-year-old Theo Decker, who survives an accident that otherwise destroys his life. Orphaned and alone in New York he’s drawn into the criminal underworld. A beautiful novel that is so addictive you won’t even realise how long it is.

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The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Another one that was published in 2014, but this time it became the longest ever novel to win the Booker prize. A complicated tale, it weaves together a network of different stories, which begin when Walter Moody stumbles across a secret gathering of twelve men. It’s 1866 in New Zealand, a rich man has disappeared, a prostitute has tried to kill herself and a drunk has discovered a vast amount of money in his home. Incredibly clever.

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Lace by Shirley Conran

The original bonk buster, Conran shocked readers with her racy tale of four school friends who reunite years later when they’re confronted a young film star who claims to be one of their daughters, with the famous line ‘which one of you bitches is my mother?’ But whose is it?

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Possibly the greatest English novel of all time, it was originally published in eight installments, but now we get to read the whole glorious book in one go. Told through the eyes of Dorothea Brooke and Dr. Tertius Lydgate, we deal with everything from love to loyalty and idealism in a mid-nineteenth century English town.

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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

It hasn’t come without controversy, Red’s own literary editor, Sarra Manning, couldn’t stress just how much she hated it A Little Life. But on the flip side, it was nominated for the Booker Prize, it was said to have changed the lives of many who read it, and well, love it or hate it, you want to have an opinion on it. So maybe, just maybe, it’s worth carrying around the 720-page story of Jude St. Francis, who’s had the most horrific life. So horrific you wonder if it’s only fair that he’s so self-destructive, or like Sarra, you want to ‘reach into the book, haul Jude out by the shoulders and tell him sternly, “For God’s sake, just pull yourself together.”‘ Either way, you need to make up your own mind.

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Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The film alone takes a whopping 220 minutes to watch, but with 1472 pages (yikes) the book is a whole other beast. There may not be a Clark Gable present, but the ruthless Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler are all you need.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Just in case you’re not already watching the BBC drama starring Lily James and James Norton, then Tolstoy’s doorstopper should be next on your reading list. A sprawling story of young love, family disputes and Napoleon’s war, it’s the ultimate big novel.

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A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Another one that won the Man Booker Prize, it’s a violent tale that depicts the night in Jamaica in 1976, when seven gunmen stormed the house of Bob Marley, but were never caught. What follows is 30 years of incredible events, featuring everyone from drug lords to journalists.

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